A VISIT TO TUB SOUTHWARD. 369 



a torrent one would not wish to p< -i -ni.- ;i traveller with : for it' the horse ((tumble, at the very 



leant In- i ;IH w<< " us :i wetting. Yet Mich i the character of all the 



-vth,- .Maypii, ;inl ;it one or two UHHO brid}_" <-st part* of other 



us. There are two principal branches to the turbid Tinguiririca, both of them rapid; 



though neither of them is more than fifty feet wide on an average, nor more than two and a half 



i ( c t .h-e|. at the centre. From this stream to the Chimbarongo, fifteen or sixteen miles, there 



is verv little cultivation. The surface of the land is almost wholly sand and pebblestones. At 



the same time, the ranges of mountains on both sides are sensibly lower than to the northward, 



and are well covered with foliage almost to the plain. 



It was a Sunday in Lent. On arriving at the "posada" of the Chimbarongo, where we 

 expected breakfast, the household cook and all had gone to mass, some four or five miles 

 away. As it was not certain that they would return before night-fall, there was no alternative 

 but to ride two leagues farther, where we found Boniface and his wife apparently less devoutly 

 inclined. Here the house was filled with young of both sexes from the neighborhood, who were 

 holding a " chingana." Two or three sang to the accompaniment of a guitar, and a pair were 

 dancing the " Zama Cueca" with the solemn monotony that renders it in appearance quite as 

 much a religious ceremony as some of their church exhibitions, and certainly as little as possible 

 like an inspiration of Terpsichore. 



From the Ghimbarongo to the Teno the face of the country is now quite a desert, the only 

 cultivated portion being a narrow strip in the vicinity of Curico. Such is also its character 

 east of the road from Guyquillo creek to the Lontue, the principal affluent of the Mataquito. 

 As a visit to it was intended at returning, we kept the higher ground to the eastward of Curico, 

 and reached the Lontue by 3 p. M. In the main branch of this stream there is> apparently, a 

 greater volume of water than in either of those to the north ; but it must be recollected that 

 few irrigating canals between the ford and the Andes are supplied from it. Like the others, 

 there are two principal torrents. A suspension bridge, formed of sticks not above an inch in 

 diameter, wattled together and supported on twisted ropes of hide elevated upon four crotched 

 trees, has been thrown over the deepest and most rapid of these. As there is abundance of 

 water and level land southward of the Lontue, and for a league or more beyond the hamlet of 

 Quechereguas, Chile recovers its lost character for fertility, and again one meets abundance of 

 fruits and vegetables. Wherever a little moisture had stolen from the acequias near the road, 

 the " flor de perdiz " (Oxalis lobata) had thrust its golden-hued petals to the surface ; but this 

 was almost the only flower. There are very few on any part of the plain, except during the 

 spring months, when the rains of winter have had time to call the bulbs into life again. 



The surrounding country is divided into small farms, as in Aconcagua. Beans and corn are 

 its staples of cultivation, wheat and grapes not being raised in greater quantity than the neigh- 

 borhood will consume. Here the valley is thirty miles wide ; and from the barren hills about 

 the river Teno, to the southward, only one small hill interrupts its seemingly level surface. 

 Before crossing the latter stream, indeed soon after leaving San Fernando, the form of a lofty 

 mountain in the Andes chain induced me to believe it the famed Descabezado. And so it even- 

 tually proved to be, though neither Nor Nicolas, nor any of the travellers we met, had 

 sufficient knowledge to satisfy my curiosity. From near the same point one may also see the 

 peak of San Francisco to the northwest of Tupungato ; indeed, but for the winds that load the 

 atmosphere with sand, vision in Chile seems bounded only by the care that one has given to 

 the inestimable organs of sight. 



Heat, the hilly surface of a portion of the ground, and the pebbly beds of a considerable 

 number of streams over which the road passes, compelled me to travel slowly all day, and we 

 reached Quechereguas at 4^ P. M., having ridden eighteen leagues in nine hours. A number of 

 travellers came into the posada shortly afterwards some from Curico, others from Talca ; 

 and in a little while its patio presented a bustling scene, with arrieros unloading packs, 

 servants spreading their pellons beneath the corridors, and others carrying dishes of food, their 

 47 



